Expert Care Helped Alan Embrace Life After Severe Burns

Support that inspired a comeback

A fire in August 2023 changed everything for Alan. S.

“I actually thought I was dead,” he says.

Alan, who was 61 at the time, sustained severe burns from a blaze that started in his room. Shortly thereafter, the lights and sirens of fire and rescue vehicles filled his Philadelphia neighborhood.

“They immediately rescued me,” Alan says. “But by then, the damage was done.”

Life-threatening injuries

An ambulance rushed Alan to Temple Health, which is home to the Temple Burn Center, the only American Burn Association-Verified Center in Philadelphia.

At Temple, Alan recalls speaking briefly with an ER physician before losing consciousness. Severe burns covered over 50% of his body, from his legs to his stomach, just below his chest.

The next thing Alan remembers is waking up three weeks later from a coma. For part of that time, he was on life support. Alan’s son flew in from Idaho to be by his father’s side. Together, the family met with Alan’s doctors to discuss options and what could happen next. They faced some tremendously difficult decisions: Alan had only a slim chance of survival.

After several days, amid prayers and goodbyes, Alan’s family made the heart-wrenching choice to withdraw life support. Incredibly, Alan began breathing on his own, which gave everyone hope.

But the difficult decisions his loved ones would have to make weren’t over. Alan’s doctors fought to save his badly burned legs, but, in order to save his life, they had to be amputated.

The Temple team that Alan credits with saving his life was led by Lisa Rae, MD, FACS, Director of the Temple Burn Center. Dr. Rae is fellowship-trained in burn surgery and a trauma and surgical critical care specialist.

Not once did she give up on me,” Alan says. “Dr. Rae is something else. I’ve never had a doctor treat me the way she treated me.

Alan S.

Surrounded by support

As he began to recover, Alan remained in the Temple Burn Center’s intensive-care unit, dedicated to burn patients. Several hundred inpatients receive care there each year. While there, Alan underwent five skin graft operations. Doctors took healthy skin from his back, sides and hips and placed it over the damaged skin from his burns.

For Alan, recovering from his injuries meant not just overcoming his serious burns; he also had to adjust to life after losing both of his legs. Among other new skills, his physical and occupational therapy team taught him to transfer safely between two surfaces, such as from a bed to a wheelchair. And he learned specific exercises to improve his strength.

His healing care didn’t stop with his physical wounds. Alan also had access to mental health counseling and a support group. He has received plenty of support from his entire care team. Among them, Melissa Ann Loughran, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Director of Nursing & Burn Operations, became a constant presence throughout Alan’s recovery.

“They cared for me like you would care for a baby,” he says. “They nurtured me back.”

Alan says he was angry with himself when he arrived at the burn center, but the team helped change his outlook on life. They stopped by his room often to check on him, talk with him and joke with him.

“They just did stuff that kept uplifting me,” Alan says.

He adds: “My nurses, the clinical staff, Melissa and her staff, even the person who cleaned the units—every single day, we had conversations. Every single day, they encouraged me.”

Starting over again

After he left the burn center, Alan completed extensive outpatient rehabilitation. He receives ongoing wound care therapy at Temple.

He also made good on a promise he made shortly after his injury — to walk again, using prosthetic legs. One day, he returned to the burn center to see Dr. Rae and his Temple team.

“I took a couple of steps with my walker and showed her that I was walking,” Alan says. “She was so happy and so elated. She turned around and gave me the biggest bear hug I ever had.”

Alan is moving forward with a sense of purpose, he says.

“My life is great,” Alan says. “I’m able to help people.”

Melissa, who had instilled so much strength in Alan, suggested he share his story with other burn survivors at Temple as a way to support and encourage them. He agreed—and is now uplifting other patients the way so many had believed in and buoyed him.

“It’s not the end of your life,” Alan says. “Your new life is just beginning, because that’s what we have. Burn survivors start over again in life, and now you have a new life. And what are you going to do with that new life? Are you going to sit and pout, or are you going to be brave and live again?”

Alan says he has a lot of gratitude for Dr. Rae, Melissa, and his Temple Burn Center team, including the nursing staff and his occupational and physical therapists.

“Not just for saving my life,” he adds, “but for the way the whole unit runs and the way the whole unit treated me. And they just kept encouraging me, telling me, ‘Man, you’re strong, you’re going to make it. Just keep moving forward.’”

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